The Ghetto (Donny Hathaway song)

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"The Ghetto"
Single by Donny Hathaway
from the album Everything Is Everything
A-side "The Ghetto, Pt. 1"
B-side "The Ghetto, Pt. 2"
Released1969
Recorded1969
Genre Soul jazz
Length6:50
Label Atlantic
Songwriter(s) Donny Hathaway & Leroy Hutson
Producer(s) Donny Hathaway & Ric Powell
Donny Hathaway singles chronology
"I Wanna Thank You Baby"
(1969)
"The Ghetto"
(1969)
"You've Got a Friend"
(1971)

"The Ghetto" is a socially conscious, mostly instrumental jazz-flavored anthem, released as the first single off American soul singer Donny Hathaway's debut album, Everything Is Everything , released as a single in 1969 on Atlantic Records.

The song was co-written by Hathaway and Leroy Hutson. The song was a 6-minute and 50 second extravaganza which built upon a cinematic feel with its lengthy instrumental though it did feature vocal ad-libs from Hathaway, who played Wurlitzer electronic piano on the song, and constant chants of the song's title. The song has a distinctive Afro-Cuban sound with congas.

The song also featured additional background dialogue from what sounds like men talking on a street corner and a baby crying - that baby being Hathaway's own daughter Lalah before Hathaway ended the song with frenetic hand claps.

When originally released in 1969, the song became a modest charted single, peaking at number 87 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 23 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart. [1]

The song was also featured on Hathaway's revered Live album in which Hathaway and his musicians played a faster version of the song and later featured Hathaway getting the audience to sing the final chorus. The song was also used in the 1977 film Short Eyes .

Co-writer Leroy Hutson recorded a version of the song entitled "The Ghetto '74" for his album The Man! (1973). Since then, the song has been sampled in hip-hop songs, most famously, Too Short's "The Ghetto", which featured Gerald Levert singing the chorus.

George Benson, accompanied by keyboardist Joe Sample, covered the song on his album Absolute Benson .

Personnel

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References

  1. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 247.